How To Ensure You Don’t Fall For The Fat Free Myth
By Liam Thompson
Even though most of us know these days that dietary fats are not the main cause of increased weight that they were once made out to be, many people who want to lose weight still seem to go for low fat meals or products. This is probably because the mainstream media haven’t caught up yet although this does seem to be changing.
One of the things that tend to happen when food manufacturers remove fat from their ingredients is that this has a significant affect on the flavour. As a result of this many companies replace the fat with sugar or ingredients such as powdered cellulose made from minuscule pieces of wood pulp. Powdered cellulose can very often be found in low fat cheese and low fat ice cream.
As was highlighted in the recent television documentary series “The Men Who Made Us Fat” the label is very often used as a clever smoke screen to give an otherwise unhealthy food such as breakfast cereals or fruit flavoured soft drinks a perception of being healthy.
Now we all know that breakfast cereals have never been made with fat and anyway as they are mostly refined carbohydrates, in other words pretty much pure sugar. You may be saving on some calories short term by eating these products but long term you are setting yourself up for imbalances in blood sugar, weight gain and potentially even diabetes.
There is a breakfast cereal on sale that markets itself as a weight loss product, but what the manufactures don’t tell you is that it is pretty much just sugar with the main ingredients being rice, wheat, sugar, wheat gluten and defatted wheat germ. No protein or fat to slow down the absorption of sugars into your blood stream meaning a quick rise in blood sugar levels and basically switching off any fat burning that might be happening in your body.
My advice is to not get sucked in by the marketing claim of these companies and certainly don’t be scared to get more healthy fats into your diet.
Even some saturated fats like those found in coconut oil and nuts have significant health benefits and will actually help you to shift some excess weight. Coconut Oil is one of our secret weapons for fat loss at our fitness camp and its great for cooking with as well as a health replacement for low fat spreads, which can also contain dangerous levels of trans fats which in turn can lead to heart disease.
Another great reason for getting more fat into your diet is because fat is actually satiating so in the end, meaning that it will fill you up quicker and you will eat less and enjoy it more. Low fat foods can actually trick you into overeating as they don’t offer the same satiety as full fat versions. Some studies have even found that you may eat as much as 50% more if you perceive a food to be healthier.
Always make sure that you read the labels on whatever you are eating and try and avoid processed foods as much as possible and foods where you have no way of knowing what might be in them.
Liam Thompson is Manchesters Leading Personal Trainer and Bootcamp owner in Manchester specialising in Weight Loss and Posture Correction. Check out Personal Training Manchester and Boot Camp Manchester for more details on Boot Camps and fast weight loss in Manchester.
